


Mistletoe

by apollaskywalker



Series: Benjamin and Mary Tallmadge [3]
Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 06:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9059737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollaskywalker/pseuds/apollaskywalker
Summary: Two instances of mistletoe in Mary and Ben's Christmases. Just some holiday fluff.





	

_1780_

_The Floyds’ house was decorated with garlands and handmade ornaments. A few of the ornaments were sewn and others appeared to have been baked dough. It was pretty and the house smelled delightfully of evergreen, rosemary, lemongrass, and mint. It occurred to Ben that it was the Christmas season and that Mary’s family celebrated._

_At Yale, Ben had once debated whether or not Christmas should be celebrated and been on the opposition. As a minister’s son, he felt compelled to uphold his father’s stance. And while the birth of Jesus was certainly important, the date was not mentioned. Easter celebrations made more sense to Ben, they had a rough estimate of the date (following Passover) and actually laid the foundation of the Christianity: the death and resurrection of Jesus. Of course Christ had been born, you had to be born in order to die, but that didn’t mean it should be a holiday._

_Still, Ben could appreciate the beauty of the decorations in comparison to the achingly bright nothingness of naked trees and snow covered ground._

_“There’s the major,” Nicoll held out his hand to greet Ben. “The girls are in the kitchen baking. Shall we try to snag some goodies?”_

_Ben agreed and they made their way into the kitchen. The warmth of the fire was a stark contrast to the rest of the house, which was more reasonably warm. The women had rolled their sleeves up and they had a fine sheen of sweat, but they were laughing and smiling. At the sound of the door, they looked up and Mary’s smile widened._

_Ben returned the smile and then felt the sudden impact at his legs as Betsy hurled herself at him. “Major Benjamin!” she yelled. “Polly said you’d be here but I was beginning to think she was lying!”_

_“Betsy,” Kitty said in a warning tone._

_Betsy let go of his legs and stepped away. “Sorry, Major Benj-“_

_“Tallmadge,” Kitty corrected. Mary bit her lip to hide a grin and picked up two of the decorated cookies from the table. She started towards him._

_“Tallmadge….are you having a good Christmas?”_

_Ben knelt down and took Betsy’s hand in his. “Truthfully, I don’t celebrate Christmas.”_

_“Don’t celebrate Christmas?!” Betsy gasped, horrified._

_“No, you see, my father is a minister and in the Bible, there’s no date provided. And there’s not much reason to celebrate the birth of Christ, at least no more than any of the saint’s birth-“ He was cut off as Mary shoved a cookie into his mouth. He let go of Betsy’s hand and took Mary’s hand away, chewing and swallowing the bit in his mouth quickly. “What was that about?”_

_“Hush, you. It’s Christmas.”_

_Kitty nudged Betsy forward. Betsy frowned quizzically. Kitty mouthed “icicles” and tipped her head in Ben and Mary’s direction. Betsy shook her head, still not understanding. “Icicles,” Kitty whispered._

_Mary heard and looked over at her sisters. Ben took the rest of the cookie and took another bite._

_“You should see our icicles!” Betsy told Ben, finally remembering what she was supposed to say. And it sounded rehearsed. Ben squinted at Mary, expecting to see a knowing look on her face. Instead she just stared, baffled, at her siblings._

_“Yeah, the icicles out back are pretty impressive,” Nicky offered an explanation. “I was just showing them to Besty this morning.”_

_“Go see!” Betsy urged._

_“Shall we, Mary?” Ben offered her his arm. Mary dusted off her hands and then accepted his invitation. When they turned their backs to head for the back door, Kitty slipped a cookie to Betsy and gave her a conspiratorial grin._

_The back door was decorated in garlands like the rest of the house. “Oh, I see.” Mary chuckled. “Betsy must have helped decorate this with Nicky this morning. We usually stick to the –“ Mary covered her face with her free hand._

_Ben didn’t see what bothered her. “What? What is it?”_

_“Mistletoe,” she pointed up at it._

_“Ah, I know this tradition. Heard about it at Yale,” he reached up and plucked a berry from the bunch. He kissed her._

Mary sighed and looked at the calendar. One day left of 1780, her daydream was just that. A daydream.

 

~*~

_1785_

 

Mary stood in front of the window, showing William the garland strings she’d hung up. “This is for Christmas, it’s when we celebrate the birth of Jesus –“

“When your mama celebrates,” Ben corrected, walking by. Little William’s face lit up when he heard Ben’s voice and he twisted in Mary’s arms, looking for his papa. Mary held their son to Ben and he scooped him up. William giggled as Ben gently tossed him up in the air. “Christmas, as celebrated, is largely made up –“

“You know how you can tell your father was a wonderful solider, sweetheart?” Mary smoothed a hand over her son’s head. “He’s very efficient at killing the mood.”

Ben scowled at her.

“It makes people happy, brings cheer when it’s dark and gloomy out, what do you really have against it?”

In response, he handed their son back to her, left the room, and came back with a sprig of mistletoe. “I don’t. I just like teasing you.” He held the sprig over their heads. Mary kissed William. “Uh…I meant this for us.”

**Author's Note:**

> I can keep Betsy for a little bit longer and I'm gonna do it. Also, William was born Oct. 20, 1785, so he's around two months when he has his first Christmas. 
> 
> I'd toyed with a "5 Christmases" thing but then realized that would turn to angst because historically, Tallmadge wasn't very keen on Christmas and I have theories about that. Though, admittedly, I don't know how the Floyds felt about Christmas but dang it, I feel like Mary would have liked Christmas.
> 
> And in case it wasn't clear, Kitty, Betsy, and Nicoll were trying to get Ben and Mary to go out the back door where they'd hung mistletoe without telling Mary.
> 
> Happy holidays!! <3


End file.
